


Didn't Know the Gift

by Illiteracy_is_for_woozles



Category: Iron Man (Comics), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bucky Barnes Needs a Hug, Bucky Barnes Recovering, Bucky Barnes is good with Kids, Bucky Barnes's Metal Arm, Canon Divergence - Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Child Neglect, Childhood Trauma, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt Tony Stark, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Kid Fic, Kid Tony Stark, Kidnapped Tony Stark, Kidnapping, Needles, Not really but he thinks so at first, POV Tony Stark, Past Child Abuse, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Protective Bucky Barnes, Team as Family, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Has Issues, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, WALL-E (2008) References, kind of?, tony stark is a nerd
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-27
Updated: 2020-05-14
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:53:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23337940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Illiteracy_is_for_woozles/pseuds/Illiteracy_is_for_woozles
Summary: Anthony finds himself surrounded by grown-ups he doesn't recognize and his parents nowhere to be found. Where is he, who took him, and who is the other person being "kept safe" with him?
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes & Tony Stark, Tony Stark & Avengers Team
Comments: 65
Kudos: 426
Collections: Kid Fic Avengers





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> All you need to know is I shot canon post-WS (except Black Panther) and buried it a mile deep. Bucky came home and is in a slow recovery and the Avengers are still doing their thing because the boys are grown-ups who can have a responsible discussion without blowing up the world. (Also, Tony Stark is no moron and he didn't fall for the "Government Overseers are important to keep everyone safe" crap)
> 
> Title is a line from the song "Sorry About Your Parents" by Icon For Hire, which has inspired several more kidfics with different characters, so... yeah. I'm a mess.  
> The full line is, "Your daddy sounds like a jerk / I guess your mama didn't know the gift she got when she got you"

Anthony’s eyes shot open, his breaths coming in sharp gasps. Blue lights and numbers flickered across his vision and loud booms overwhelmed him.

He tried to move his limbs, but found that he couldn’t; every inch of his body felt restrained and weighted.

“Sir, you need to take a deep breath. I have taken over the flight controls and am in the process of landing.” The voice came from nowhere and everywhere at once. A man with Jarvis’ accent.

Anthony tried to follow the man’s instructions, but his stomach churned and it was hard to stay calm in the dark. It was so dark.

“The external cameras were disconnected from the display. We will be on the ground shortly.”

Anthony squeezed his eyes shut, his mouth going dry as it felt like he was falling.

Gravity shifted, leaving his feet dangling in their restraints. The world jolted and things went silent.

“Um, hello?” He swallowed his tears and tried again. “Mister? Can you please let me out? I’ll be good, I promise.”

“Of course, sir.”

The world shifted and fell out from under him. Anthony landed on his hands and knees and squinted in the light at the empty street around him.

“Tony?” A man in black clothing skidded to a stop a few feet away from him with a bow in his hands and his jaw hanging open.

Anthony stared up at him as he seemed to jerk out of his stupor.

Another man in a red and blue suit with a big star on his chest came up the street at a dead run and stopped next to the archer. He had something attached to his back that made Anthony think of a turtle.

The two men continued to stare with matching looks of shock until Anthony spoke, his eyes falling to the glass-covered asphalt beneath him.

“Please don’t put me back in there.”

  
  
  


The man with glasses who had introduced himself as Bruce dabbed at Anthony’s palms gently, but it still stung. The cotton ball had been soaked in antiseptic and some of the cuts from the glass were still open, but he bit his cheek to keep from crying.

Two others had joined the two men and the woman with red hair had asked him if he recognized them, but he couldn’t say that he did.   
Except for the man with the turtle shell, who identified himself as Steve. When he took his mask off, Anthony thought that he looked like the guy his father kept a picture of on his desk, but he kept that to himself.

Anthony did as he was told and allowed himself to be carried to a plane of some kind where Dr. Banner - Bruce - was waiting.

“Does anything else hurt?”

Anthony shook his head, eyes kept carefully on the ground. He could see the feet of the red-haired woman - Natasha - and the man with the hammer - Thor - standing just on the edge of his field of vision, but he couldn’t see the others without looking up.

Dr. Banner ducked his head to try and catch the boy’s eyes.

“Tony, can you tell me how old you are?”

“Four, sir. And it’s Anthony.”

He regretted the correction immediately with a sinking feeling in his chest and a twist of his stomach, but the man just nodded and began wrapping his cut hands with careful movements.

Anthony sat there a moment in silence as the doctor worked.

“Why did you take me?” He was ashamed to hear how small his voice was.

The doctor’s hands stilled for a fraction of a second before he finished tying off the last bandage.

“What do you mean?”

His eyes flickered up to look for signs that the man was upset for a moment and found nothing but confusion.

“I woke up in the dark and- and now you’re transporting me somewhere.” He glanced to the side to see Natasha watching him closely. “My father said that if someone ever took me somewhere, I was supposed to give them what they wanted.”

Dr. Banner’s eyes widened and he held very still.

“Anthony, that’s not- We didn’t kidnap you.” He took a deep breath. “You were in a bad situation and now we are going to take you someplace safe.”

He was silent, expecting some sort of response, so the boy nodded his head. What other response would be expected?

“Coming in for a landing,” called back the archer. Clint had taken the pilot’s chair as soon as Anthony had been strapped into his seat.

There were no windows except for the ones on the front of the plane, so Anthony had no idea where they were. Or where he had woken up, for that matter. He knew it was a city and they hadn’t been flying for very long, so could they still be in the same city?

The plane landed just as Dr. Banner finished cleaning up the medical kit, the doors opening and letting sunlight stream in.

The others began filing out as the doctor unhooked Anthony’s harness and led him out through the open ramp. The boy stumbled back into the older man’s legs at the sight that greeted him.

They appeared to be on a landing platform on a building so tall it dwarfed almost all of the other buildings. And Anthony was pleased to see that he had been right because the view he had showed a sprawling metropolis beneath them. He idly wondered how high they were.

Dr. Banner smiled kindly and began leading him across the deck and inside a pair of glass doors into a huge area with couches and chairs and a bar set under stairs that led somewhere else.

“To- er, Anthony, why don’t you sit down while the adults talk for a minute.”

The boy nodded and sat on the nearest couch, watching as the group gathered at the opposite end of the room.

He kept his eyes fixed on the floor, but his ears remained trained on the grown-ups.

They whispered, but he managed to catch his name and “ _ Amora _ ” as well as their angry tones.

Why wouldn’t people just talk  _ to _ him instead of  _ about _ him?

The other end of the couch dipped down and Anthony jerked his head up to find a man with long hair tucked into the corner like he’d been there all along. He was huge but seemed to be curled up to make himself seem smaller with his eyes going off in the middle distance.

“It’s frustrating to hear people talk about you like you’re not even there.”

Anthony only nodded, not taking his eyes off the man. He seemed… tired, disheveled. Like he was anxious about something. And he wasn’t being included with the others...

“Did they take you, too?” Anthony kept his voice low, barely audible at all. He knew bad men took adults, too. His mother had said she had learned what to do if she was kidnapped, too.

The corner of the man’s mouth quirked up just slightly as his eyes darted to Anthony for a moment.

“Not the way you’re thinkin’, kid.”

Anthony frowned.

“Dr. Banner said they were taking me someplace safe.”

He nodded.

“Nowhere safer than here.”

Anthony’s eyes slid over the man again, taking in his rumpled hoodie and ripped jeans and single black glove on his left hand.

“Why are you only wearing one glove?”

He flexed his hand, his eyes studying it like he wasn’t used to seeing it there, before he peeled off the glove.

Anthony’s jaw dropped at the gleaming silver that moved more like a liquid than metal was supposed to. His eyes darted to the group still in conversation and oblivious to the pair on the couch before reaching out to poke at the prosthetic.

“That’s so cool,” he whispered. “Did my dad make that?”

The man looked at him with such surprise, he wasn’t sure what he had said wrong.

“Uh, I dunno.”

Anthony’s brows furrowed together.

“How do you not know who made your arm?”

The man gave a smile that didn’t reach his eyes at all.

“There’s a lot of things I don’t know.”

Anthony nodded, not really understanding but knowing when he should stop asking questions.

“My name’s Anthony.” He stuck out his hand.

“James, but my friends call me Bucky.”

They shook and Anthony looked up hopefully.

“Are we friends, then?”

A genuine smile this time reached the man’s eyes as he ruffled Anthony’s hair.

“I hope so, little man.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anthony learns more about the strangers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been a while, but the depression part of the quarantine is setting in. I'm going to try and hide in fanfiction for a while, so it should be easier to get chapters out.
> 
> Also, this doesn't matter to you guys at all but I took my cat into the vet for her annual checkup (she's fine) and the vet told me that we all should be very careful with what cleaners we use around our pets. He suggested the lemon-scented PineSol because it's easier on their systems (as well as ours) and doesn't smell as horrible to them.

The two of them watched the group across the room for a while, still going unnoticed.

Anthony frowned.

The only person who seemed to have any indication that they knew Bucky was there was the lady. Her eyes kept sliding over to them every so often before sliding back to focus on the others.

“Do they even know you’re here?”

Bucky shrugged.

“Probably not.” He eyed Anthony for a moment with a smirk. “Did they introduce themselves?”

Anthony shrugged.

“They told me their names.”

Bucky grunted.

“That doesn’t tell you much.” He nodded to the red-head. “The lady who keeps eyeballing us? That’s Natasha. She’s scary at first, but she’s pretty harmless if she likes you.”

Anthony smiled at the wink Natasha sent their way.

“The guy standing next to her?” He pointed to the man Anthony had seen first on the street who was gesturing in small, quick motions as he spoke. “That’s Clint. He is a horrible influence, but he’s also a good person to talk to.”

The boy tried to hide his giggle.

“You know Bruce?” Bucky asked so Anthony nodded. “He’s kinda nervous around people, but he’s really nice and wouldn’t hurt a fly if he could help it.”

The man stood with his arms crossed and shoulders hunched in on himself.

“What about the other two?” He pointed to the large blond with the hammer.

“Thor’s not from around here; he’s from really far away, actually. He sometimes asks weird questions, but he’s actually really smart if you listen long enough.” Something behind Bucky’s eyes shuttered when he got to the last one, on the other side of Natasha, but he kept his tone light and smile turned up. “And that’s Steve. He’s an idiot and couldn’t come up with a good plan if his life depended on it, but he’s nice enough, I guess.”

Anthony cocked his head to the side but didn’t say anything. Adults didn’t like a lot of questions.

The gathering kept whispering between themselves until Natasha rolled her eyes and elbowed Steve in the ribs. She pointed in Anthony and Bucky’s direction.

His new friend wiggled his fingers in a tiny wave at the five pairs of eyes pointed in their direction.

“Hey, Buck.” Steve’s eyes bounced between the two. “When did you come down?”

“When Jarvis told me you brought a kid home,” he deadpanned before standing and holding out his hand. “Come on, kid. You hungry?”

Anthony nodded, taking the offered hand and not meeting their gazes.

  
  
  


His new friend made fantastic sandwiches. That was something Anthony knew for sure, even if he didn’t know much else about where he was.

Steve and Natasha had followed them into the kitchen and watched as he ate at the counter and Bucky drifted around the kitchen.

Natasha slipped up onto the stool next to him, crossing her arms on the countertop.

“Hey.”

Anthony, mouth over-full, looked to Bucky before swallowing.

“Hello.”

“So, you’re going to be staying with us for a while, is that okay?”

She smiled and her voice was light and friendly, but her eyes reminded Anthony of all of the adults who wanted to see how smart he was. He hated it when people pretended to be his friend.

“I guess.” He took another bite of his sandwich.

Bucky slid a plate in front of Natasha. Her eyebrows rose, but she turned her attention back to him soon enough.

“We were thinking James could keep you company,” she continued and turned to Bucky. “If that’s alright with you?”

He nodded and set a small glass of juice in front of the boy.

“I promise not to teach him anything too dangerous.” He threw Anthony a wink.

Anthony’s eyes widened and darted between the other two grown-ups, but they studiously acted like they hadn’t seen anything.

Was this another test?

An unseen voice, the one from the dark container, came from the ceiling, startling Anthony into spilling a few drops of juice on the counter.

“Excuse the interruption, but Dr. Banner would like to see Master Anthony in his lab as soon as he’s available.”

Anthony had frozen and was staring at the drops of sticky liquid. His eyes flicked to Steve, who was still in the doorway.

“Thanks, Jarvis. We’ll have him down there in a minute.”

Bucky came up beside him with a dish towel and swiped up the mess as he removed the empty plate from in front of the boy.

Anthony flinched at his proximity and Bucky stopped with the dish halfway over his head.

“You okay, kid?”

The boy swallowed through his dry throat and nodded silently.

Everyone else had stilled and he could see them sharing looks but they didn’t comment.

“Steve, you and Natasha mind cleaning up?”

Bucky held his hand out to help Anthony off the stool.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would love some comments; they're really helpful in telling me what vibe this story is giving off.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blood tests and movie night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't even know what happened in this chapter. Anthony is a very emotion-inducing kid so I'm kinda ??? but let's just call this bit of fluff at the end my birthday present? (It's a day early, but I don't care)
> 
> Also: There is a reference to needles in this chapter. It's just for a friendly blood draw done by Bruce, so nothing horrifying or traumatic to a child.

“We’re just going to take a little blood sample, okay?” Bruce set a tray onto the table beside Anthony’s chair.

The boy nibbled at his lip and pulled at the hem of the over-long t-shirt he was wearing.

“Anthony?” Bucky slid onto the school next to him.

He looked up through his lashes.

“Why do you need my blood?” he whispered. This wasn’t normal; only daddy ever took his blood. “Am I sick?”

The doctor’s hands slowed in opening the sterile packages.

“We’re not sure,” he admitted. “We think you might have been in contact with something that could make you sick, so we’re just checking to be sure.”

Anthony nodded. That made sense, but he still eyed the needle warily.

“I’m scared of needles, too,” Bucky observed.. “Will holding my hand make you feel better?”

He reached out, allowing the boy to ignore it if he wanted. He didn’t.

Bruce swiped Anthony’s elbow with an alcohol wipe and picked up the needle.

“It’ll just be a pinch.”

Anthony focused on Bucky’s hand as the needle went in.

“I thought adults weren’t scared of anything.”

Bucky chuckled and shook his head.

“Nah, we’re all scared of something.” He shrugged. “Some of us are scared of a lot of things but that’s okay.”

Anthony furrowed his brows.

“Daddy said that being scared was for babies.”

Bucky frowned but quickly smoothed out his expression.

“Well, we’re not babies and we’re scared of things.” He looked to the doctor. “Right, Bruce?”

Bruce pressed a cotton ball to Anthony’s arm. He’d forgotten about the needle.

“Uh, yeah, there are a lot of things we’re scared of.” The older man went back to placing the vials in the small refrigerator.

Anthony eyed Bucky suspiciously.

“Are you scared of the dark?”

He nodded.

“Monsters in your closet or under your bed?”

The corner of his mouth curved up slightly but his eyes didn’t reflect any humor.

“I’m more scared of monsters in other places.”

Anthony turned away to watch Bruce dispose of the equipment and his gloves.

The adults here were different than back home. They were more honest, you could see it in their eyes. And they moved slower, more deliberately.   
Bruce didn’t take up much space as he went around the lab and Bucky kept as still as humanly possible, almost to the point of being inhuman, and neither of them spoke more than what was necessary. It was like they didn’t want to be noticed or scare anyone. Like Anthony.

Anthony watched Bruce walk pass a floor-to-ceiling window, his eyes catching on the figure in the lab across the hall.

The figure was metallic, painted red and gold. It stood tall and intimidating on a stand against the far wall.

“What’s that?”

Bucky turned to see what he was looking at and stopped, his jaw working.

“That’s, uh, that’s the Iron Man armor.” He flicked his eyes back to Anthony, “That’s what you woke up in.”

Anthony slid off the stool and approached the window. It felt like the eyes followed him, its mouth frowning in disapproval.

“What’s it for?”

“To protect people.” Bucky stood behind him, his hands in his pockets. “The- the guy that made it wears it so he can rescue people and fight bad guys.”

Anthony hummed and pressed his hands to the glass.

“Why does it look angry?”

Bucky didn’t answer him for a minute.

“I think it’s because he was scared when he built it.”

Anthony looked back to find him watching him with a sad smile.

“When they’re scared, some people try to hide behind a mask of anger so that they can’t be hurt anymore.”

“And he doesn’t want anyone to know that he’s scared when he protects people?”

Bucky nodded.

“But wouldn’t that scare nice people away?”

Anthony felt himself shrink under the adult’s piercing gaze.

“Yeah, I think it would,” he finally responded. “But I’m sure someone would see past it eventually.”

  
  
  


A large, fluffy thing fell on Anthony, covering him from top to bottom. He clambered out from underneath it, nearly slipping off the couch in a fit of giggles.

“You okay there, buddy?” Clint grinned down at him.

Anthony nodded, still trying to untangle his foot from the fuzzy blanket without cracking his head on the coffee table.

Thor plopped on the floor in front of him with a large bowl of popcorn in his lap and two brightly colored cans in his hand. He passed one back to Anthony with a grin.

The can was cold and covered in condensation. He pulled the tab and took a sip, the flavor of ginger and the almost spicy sensation of bubbles exploding on his tongue. It was odd, but not unpleasant.

“Thor, please tell me you didn’t give a four-year-old caffeine,” Steve called from the kitchenette.

“Of course not,” Thor pouted. Anthony stifled a giggle at his indignant expression. “I gave him one of the false ales.”

Bucky appeared over the back of the couch, his head upside down when Anthony looked up.

“Do you like it?”

The boy shrugged. It wasn’t bad but he wasn’t used to the bubbles and said so.

Bucky made a face.

“Yeah, those take getting used to.”

“I got it!” Clint raised a fist in triumph. “How about  _ Wall-E _ ?”

Anthony looked back to Bucky who just raised an eyebrow and slid down next to him.

“I have no idea what that is.”

Clint’s face lit up as he scrambled up and grabbed the remote.

“Oh, you’re gonna love it.” He pointed the remote at Anthony. “You especially.”

The little boy snuggled into Bucky’s side as the rest of the adults found their own seats and began throwing bags of snacks back and forth between each other.

The lights dimmed and a dark screen appeared with an old-fashioned song playing, the dark segueing into a galaxy, planets, and then finally earth covered in mountains of trash with smog filling the air.

Anthony’s eyes widened. How could people  _ live _ like that?

The movie continued and Anthony couldn’t look away.

He didn’t really mind the eyes he felt on him when he started to fall asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone wants to yell at me in a slightly less formal place, I am @squeaky-floorboards on tumblr


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anthony spends his first morning with his new friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about how long this one has taken and how short it is. It was halfway finished the other day, but I got called back to work last week and haven't had much time to even think.  
> I'm going to try and get another chapter up by next week but no promises. (Life is really weird for everyone right now)
> 
> Off topic, but friendly reminder from your local retail worker to please wear a mask when you leave your house. 90% of my customers this past week weren't wearing masks and had no idea what the words "social distancing" meant so I panicked every day through my whole shift.

Slowly blinking fuzzy eyes, Anthony woke to a bed he didn’t remember getting into the night before. The sheets were soft, though, and the sunlight peeking through the curtains was warm.

He snuggled deeper into the cloud-like pillow and sighed. He heard the door open.

“Oh, no you don’t,” chuckled Bucky. “I heard you stirring around in here; you’re definitely awake.”

“Am not,” Anthony slurred while pulling the blanket further over his head.

He felt himself fly into the air and land back on the bed in a heap next to a large, warm presence. The little boy scrambled out from under the covers and glared at a grinning Bucky laying on his back.

“Oh, look,” he declared innocently. “You’re awake!”

Anthony couldn’t help but smile.

“Did you sleep okay?”

He nodded with a quiet, little  _ uh-huh _ .

“Ready for breakfast?”

Instead of answering, Anthony shucked off his blankets and crawled over the side of the bed.

Bucky led him down a hallway and into a huge kitchen with stoves and ovens that looked like they belonged in a restaurant’s kitchen and not in someone’s home.

All of the adults were gathered around the island and at the counters. Clint was making something in the toaster while he drank coffee straight from the carafe while Steve flipped pancakes at an industrial flat-top. The smell of burning batter tickled Anthony’s nose.

Natasha smiled when she saw Anthony.

“Hey there, sleepyhead,” she said, moving a plate from next to Steve onto the island.

“Good morning,” Steve smiled over his shoulder. “Want some pancakes?”

Clint set the coffee pot down and waved his hands in a ‘no’ gesture in front of him. He mimed eating before hanging his head to the side with his tongue lolling out and his eyes rolling back in his head.

Just in time for Steve to turn around with an eyebrow raised.

Clint sheepishly smiled, taking his coffee and sipping it.

Bucky picked Anthony up and set him on a stool before going around to try and salvage something from Steve’s pancakes.

Natasha slid a glass of milk in front of him and began cutting up a banana with quick, even slices. She popped a blueberry into her mouth without breaking stride.

Anthony watched the adults go about their morning, some barely awake enough to get their mugs to their lips and the sheer mundanity of the morning.

Usually, Anthony would be eating breakfast in the big dining room while his parents had already left to start their own days, leaving him alone with his nanny.

He decided that he liked this better.

“Are you alright, little one?” Thor had ducked his head to catch the boy’s eye.

Anthony nodded and took a sip of his milk. He stared into the glass as his next words came out.

“Are you going to send me home soon?”

The grown-ups shared questioning looks for a moment, the only sound being the sizzling of the stove.

“We hope so,” Bruce assured, his eyes honest. “We’re trying to get you back as soon as possible.”

The little boy ducked his head and tapped his index finger on his glass. He hoped they took their time.

  
  
  


Someone had filled his room’s dresser with clothing in his size. Most of the shirts had colorful, cartoonish versions of his hosts decorating the fronts.

Anthony pulled a t-shirt over his head, smoothing the image of a green giant lifting a car before walking back into the living room.

Bucky was sitting on the bench by the window with a cup of coffee in one hand while he alternately caught and returned a ball across the room to Steve with the other. The other man seemed to be intently studying an array of papers on the coffee table.

Clint stepped off of the elevator with a box in his hands. He grinned when he saw Anthony.

“Hey, ready to go?”

The boy nodded and followed him over to the opposite end of the couch from Steve.

“You are one lucky kid.” Clint set the box in his lap and pulled out a pair of black sneakers with big, red hourglasses on the sides. “They don’t even make these in my size.”

Anthony slid them on and tightened the velcro straps before sliding off the couch and holding his hands behind his back.

“You’ve gotta loosen up a little, kid,” Clint smirked.

“Where are we going?”

“I told you: It’s a surprise.” He stood and slid the box under the coffee table. “You’re going to love it.”

Anthony’s brows furrowed. He looked to Bucky.

“Why can’t you come?”

Bucky’s face tightened, his grip tightening on the mug.

“I don’t do well around a lot of people.” He shrugged.

Anthony frowned but he took Clint’s offered hand and followed him into the elevator.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are always welcome and very much appreciated.  
> I recently finished my series "The Future Is History" if you want something else to read. (Kinda want to write more, but who knows)  
> You can also come yell at me (anonymously or not) on tumblr @squeaky-floorboards

**Author's Note:**

> I am very excited about this and would love some feedback for it. Thanks!


End file.
